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Chapter 7
~Rhiannon’s POV~
I didn’t blink.
Darian’s display wasn’t lost on —nor was the way he watched , like I was so enigma he wanted to tear open and solve with his hands.
I leaned back in my seat, my own gaze steady. "What? Shocked I didn’t grow up in a kennel?" My voice ca out even, laced with ice. "Sorry to disappoint."
Sothing flickered in Kael’s eyes, but he didn’t speak. Talon was already smirking again, as if amused by the tension.
Lucien glanced away like he was weighing my words against sothing heavier.
But Darian didn’t back off. "No. I’m shocked you’re still sitting there like you haven’t lied to all of us already."
That pulled sothing out of . I stood, chains clinking faintly as I did. "I never lied. You made assumptions."
He stepped forward, just once, close enough to make the room shrink. "We don’t assu. We read, we listen, we sll lies."
I didn’t flinch. "Then you’re not reading right." Because deep within , I knew that all their intentions and thoughts were secret from the other.
Right at that mont, I knew I could play my ga, and it would end in my favour if my cards were right.
Kael raised a hand. "Enough. We’re not here to argue over where she ca from—we already know."
Then he asked sothing I never expected the rest of them to have the sense to ask, since they had been busy on other things.
"And you..." I arched my brow, eting his gaze. "What’s your na?"
I inhaled deeply. Here we were again with the question I had refused to answer.
Imdiately, all eyes settled on , and the room suddenly felt smaller than it had been before.
I could feel Darian’s gaze burning a hole through my spine even as I sat down again. But I didn’t cower. I faced them all with my head held high.
"Aren’t you going to answer, or would you prefer that I call you ’you’?"
"Rhiannon."
Imdiately, all five voices rushed into my brain amongst several others, but theirs were prominent.
"Interesting," Riven muttered.
"Lovely na," Talon appreciated.
"As expected," Darian mused.
"Rhia," Kael said softly, a clear contrast to what his face showed.
And Lucien smiled like a maniac, but his thoughts were different from Kael’s. "Better than I had imagined."
Before I could dwell on it, another voice cut through in my mind—feminine but laced with malice.
"Rhiannon, my foot. Sounds like a rare bitch in heat. I wish she could just fall and die rather than watch them fawn over her."
My brow arched, and I tried to identify the voice’s speaker, but that was hard, given that I had no control over my powers and had yet to understand them.
Instead, I closed my eyes briefly, a ditation technique my father had taught for concentration since I was five.
Sure enough, I soon found the predator. It was a maid standing adjacent to , her eyes brimming with malice as she tried to school her hatred into a calm face, but I knew better.
Her eyes locked on mine, and I smirked. Shock flared in her eyes instantly. I didn’t need to say anything to her. My gaze said it all.
That was a technique I used for unruly kids coming to destroy my father’s garden in the human town.
Just the thought of my father made clench my jaw.
"Okay. Eat. It won’t be your last."
With that, he was gone. Darian followed next without uttering a word.
Soon, one by one, they all filed out of the dining room, barely touching their al. Only Riven and Talon asked the maid to serve their food in their rooms.
Once they were gone, my shoulders relaxed a bit, but I was still skeptical of touching the food until my stomach growled in protest.
Swallowing my pride, I picked up my cutlery and tasted the chicken. The sweet taste lted on my tongue, and my wolf purred.
"Okay, Rhi. Eat and live to fight another day. I will play their ga until I see a chance to escape."
Before I ate, the guard moved forward and took off the chains. My lips curled at the side. No chains this ti, but the guards waited nearby, watching every move I made.
I didn’t touch the food, but I had eaten sothing more satisfying: leverage. And for the first ti since I’d arrived, I wasn’t entirely powerless.
"Then let’s see how well we play pretend."
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~Author’s POV~
~Seraphina’s Quarters~
The door slamd shut behind Seraphina with a resounding crack.
She paced the length of her lavish chamber like a caged predator, violet silks fluttering around her like a storm cloud. Her nails—long, painted, perfect—clenched into her palms. Her breath ca fast.
"That little wretch..." she hissed. "She dares speak to like that? With chains on her wrists?"
Glass on her vanity rattled as her fury pulsed outward. Her reflection—poised, flawless—mocked her back with cold amusent. She swept the brush and perfu bottle off the marble counter in one swipe.
Just then, a knock echoed on her door.
"What?" she barked.
It cracked open, and a girl stepped in—a soft-featured she-wolf with nervous eyes and a scar beneath her collarbone. Another one of the "purchases." Her na was Mira, if Seraphina recalled correctly. Too quiet for her own good.
"Lady Seraphina." She greeted with a bow and walked further in. "I—I heard the new one got called to the dining hall," Mira murmured, her eyes flicking around the room. "Is it true she’s... special?"
Seraphina turned to her slowly, lips curling. "Special?" She let out a bitter laugh. "Witchcraft. That’s what it is."
Mira paled. "But... but they’re drawn to her. All of them. Even Alpha Kael and Alpha Darian—he never looks at anyone like that."
Seraphina stepped closer, her voice low and sharp like a needle. "That’s why we need to act. Before she blinds them all. I’ve seen it before—witches who seduce alphas, make them pliant."
"You think she’s a witch?" Mira asked, not entirely sure the Alphas would be fooled like that.
"I know she is. And worse—she told sothing last night."
Mira blinked. "What?"
.
Seraphina leaned in like she was whispering the devil’s secret. "She said once she marries them, she’s going to send us all away—anyone they bought. She would toss us out like garbage since she is their mate."
f.(r)eew ebnov\ll
Mira’s face twisted. "She said that?"
Seraphina nodded, eyes gleaming with manufactured truth. "Do I look like a liar?"
Mira shook her head slowly as she glanced around to see the destruction Seraphina had caused. "Look," Seraphina began, taking a step forward, "look at my room in a ss. I cannot stomach the audacity with which she speaks when she is a fake."
Mira’s chest rose and fell as she clenched her fists loosely.
"It is simple. We either expose her... or we’ll be begging for scraps in a week. And trust —once she has their favour, we won’t last a day."
The words sank in. Mira swallowed hard, then nodded. "What do we do?"
"We give the alphas a reason to question her," Seraphina purred. "We don’t even need to lie. Just... tilt the truth. She’s already strange, secretive, and bonded without warning. We let them wonder if it’s a spell. Let them doubt and see her for who she is."
Mira hesitated, probably thinking things through before she whispered, "And if they don’t?"
Seraphina’s smile was all teeth. "Then we make them. Or have you lost your faith in ?"
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